Clip My Wings
by kaze no akatsuki
Summary: Two friends, torn apart by time, space and species, now take refuge together with the outliers of the Moon Demon Company. It would seem all is saved, but Mika is not human, and he knows it - even if everyone else tries to forget. In the wake of their time spent together, will Yuu and the crew adopt a new attitude towards vampires? And what are the consequences of this? Anime-verse.


**Hello, it's me, the person who is doing the opposite of what she's been advised because she's starting a new fic when she has like 3 waiting for updates... however, this is actually not a distraction fic, but something that just came to me plot wise because, alas, Seraph of the End and my main fandom right now, Blue Exorcist, share a few voice actors. (Namely, Ferid = Mephisto, which is just freaky because they have the same kind of personality.)**

 **Anyway, did I mention I've never written in this fandom before and had, until yesterday, no idea a manga even existed for this series? No? Well, I have now. So I apologize, but this will be going off of the anime, and specifically is centered around that 4 or 5 month period between the cutscene at the end and when they set out to find Guren again. (last like 12 minutes of the last episode of S2, aka Nagoya arc)**

 **With that said, here are the rules of my fanfictions: I write for the experience, and therefore while reviews are not required for updates, I will consider working on a fic much faster if I know it's getting a lot of attention. Also, the more constructive criticism you give me the better. I literally will beg you, BEG YOU for the stuff. I can't improve my skills if I don't know where I'm going wrong.**

 **WARNINGS: (these will appear as needed) For the fic on the whole: Angst, smut (ish) scenes of homosexual nature (YuuXMika...and possibly others.), mentions/implied sexual assault, coercion, and prostitution, and in all likelihood some OOC moments.**

 **FOR THIS CHAPTER: not much, but possible OOC-ness.**

 **DISCLAIMER: _I don't own the characters, series, nor do I profit monetarily from these fanfictions_ ; however I do profit in the sense that I learn how to write shit that makes me uncomfortable and/or teaches me something about the subject. (Because you better bet your britches I do research for this stuff.) **

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 **CH I: _Angels That Fall When They Fly._**

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" _Running from the shadow,_

 _Lost in the night,_

 _Got to be brave and have no fear;_

 _Fighting for the fire,_

 _Wait for the light,_

 _Got to be brave 'cause I need you here in the darkness..._

 _I will find you in the darkness."_

~ In The Darkness, _Built By Titan._

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In a time of adjustments, it was surprisingly challenging to accept.

It wasn't that Mika was unwelcome at their makeshift home, located some seven miles outside of town. In fact, Shinoa made it a point to ensure that no one was ever unkind to Mikaela. She impressed upon even the stubborn Kamizuki that he was family now, and that meant he was friend, not foe.

For the most part, everyone was kind to him. No one was ever outwardly impolite, nor did they say unnecessary things to him. They treated him like a person, for the most part – and Mika would be wrong, he felt, to presume that Shinoa, at least, _disliked_ him.

But it was painfully obvious to Mika that they didn't _trust_ him. And though some part of him felt like that was deserved, and that their perceptions of him would change as the seasons did – another, more reserved side of him didn't think it was wise to trust them completely, either.

He was willing to try though – for Yuu's sake.

"Mika...Mika," Yuu touched his friend's shoulder lightly – he was the only one who had the gall to touch the vampire so far. Not that Mika would have appreciated it from anyone else, for he didn't generally tolerate being "handled" by near-strangers. "Mika, snap out of it. You're spacing out again."

"O-Oh?" Mika shook his head lightly to clear it. Where had his mind been wandering? He didn't recall.

"Sorry, Yuu. Guess I'm just tired."

"Well, I imagine trying to adjust as a nocturnal creature to daylight hours is a bit draining." Shinoa piped in. She was standing in the kitchen, which was supplied with power through half-emtpy propane tanks. She was trying to make breakfast for the crew, who had only left Nagoya a week ago, though it felt like it'd been years.

"Yeah...I guess you have a point." Mika replied with a half-smirk. Yuu looked on, watching his friend carefully. It was a different kind of careful, as Mika seen it, than the others. Yuu wasn't the least bit afraid of his friend, but rather seemed more afraid _for_ him.

"Hey," Yuu addressed Mika quietly, leaning in. He wasn't sure how he knew, but he had this...sixth sense, when it came to Mika. Like he could somehow tell whenever his friend was upset, or scared, or worried. He watched Mika try for a friendly-ish smirk at Shinoa, and he appreciated it for what it was – but he also knew it was forced, and that Mika was not the least bit tired. In point of fact, the young vampire was _wired_ , if he was anything – he was on edge, sitting there at the salvaged dining table beside him. Yuu thought about it, and supposed he couldn't blame his friend; he'd only been here a week, and one thing Yuu knew Mika didn't like was change.

But though he hoped that Mika would adjust to his new allies, he also, in the dark recesses of his subconscious, secretly feared the opposite would happen. None of his friends were mean to Mika, or went out of their way to be in his – but that was just the very thing; no one really interacted with him. This, Yuu surmised, was mostly Mika's fault. The outstandingly tepid vampire was being a recluse at all moments that he wasn't being dragged out of the bedroom he, Mika, and Yoichi shared, which lie in the dilapidated room directly behind them at the moment. To the right of them was a large, dirty window, under which was a couch that Kamizuki slept on. The girls had their own room around the corner, down a very short hallway, next to the only bathroom.

"Hey, Mika. Try to cheer up a little, okay?" Yuu whispered to his friend, sitting on the left of him. "I know this is all really stressful, for all of us, but it doesn't do well to be in bad spirits now."

"He's right, you know." Shinoa, her back still turned to the meat she was cooking on the stove, replied nonchalantly. Yuu seemed surprised she had heard him, making a sheepish expression. She turned then, with plates in hand, setting them on the table. Food in the wasteland was pretty scarce, save for what they could salvage from the nearby sea, which basically amounted to crabs and seaweed. Yesterday, however, they'd managed to hunt down a boar rooting around for food of it's own, and Yoichi had come upon various herbs in their wanderings – there wasn't much on those plates, even on a good morning, but today, after a week of shellfish, the smell of cooked pork was enough to get up the spirits a little.

"Breakfast is on!" Shinoa called. The patter of tired feet followed as Yoichi appeared first, sitting next to Mika on the corner of the table, looking eager for that fresh, non stinking meat. Of all of Yuu's friends, Mika seemed to tolerate Yoichi more than anyone else, except maybe Shinoa. In any case, Mika didn't cringe away from him like he did with Kamizuki, who came up to the table next, sitting in the middle on the side next to Yuu. The older boy wasn't very sociable of late – but after witnessing what the Moon Demon Company did to his sibling, Yuu, nor anyone else could blame him for not feeling very relaxed, especially since he had woken up all this week with terrible nightmares; nightmares which, in the small living quarters and thin walls, were audible to everyone, especially when he woke up screaming.

Mitsuba came up last, sitting next to Yoichi on the opposite side. Mika didn't seem to mind her too much, but would still recoil from her if she got too loud or aggressive, and seemed put off whenever she and Shinoa had a girl-fight, which Yuu didn't think he'd ever understand about them, no matter how long he lived with them in the future.

"I'm glad I can eat real meat for once." Yuu announced as he pulled a plate towards him, loaded up full of sloppily cut pork and green stuff that Yuu didn't even want to name.

"Yeah, I agree."Yoichi added in, pulling his own plate from the middle. "I mean, I like seafood, but even I get bored of it after a while."

"M-hm" Mitsuba hummed, already stuffing her face. Of all the ladies Mika had known in his time, she was doubtlessly the least classy – but in a way, that made her more tolerable, and even a little bit charming.

"Yeah, well enjoy it while it lasts, because that damn thing was hard to track down. Besides which, we don't have any refrigeration, so though I've been working my ass off to dry out as much of the meat as I can, I'm afraid it won't keep for long."

"With as much as Yuu and Mitsuba eat, I don't think we'll have a problem." Shinoa chuffed.

"Hey!" Mitsuba said, giving Shinoa a pointed stare.

"That reminds me, Mika," Yuu said, swallowing a huge chunk of meat. "Can't vampires eat some human stuff?" Mika, taken off guard by the question, passed a wary stare over the crew before thinking carefully of his reply. Truth be told, there were non-blood foods they could eat, but that wasn't exactly any more comforting an idea to a shaken and weary human than the idea of him consuming blood. "Sometimes, yes." He settled for a vague, nonchalant approach. "Mostly we can eat high protein stuff, and due to our metabolisms being vaguely human, we can process and digest sugars and most carbohydrates. So things like rice, potatoes, or even candy." Mika explained. "Anything with a pretty simple sugar structure. We can drink alcohol, too, but our bodies don't really process it the same way. Vampires _can_ get drunk, but only if the alcohol is made with said simple sugars. So something like vodka, which is honestly gross anyway, doesn't do much but give a vampire an upset stomach."

"So, something like sake would make you drunk?" Kamizuki asked with a surprising amount of curious interest. "It's made from rice, right?"

"Yeah. Sake will intoxicate a vampire – but before you get any ideas," Mika said with a genuine half smirk, "A drunk vampire is significantly worse for your health than a sober one."

"I can't imagine how." Yuu said, a slightly triumphant smile playing on his lips. Mika interrupted him before he could say something to make himself look stupid.

"I assure you, it makes their behavior worse, not better." Mika frowned, recalling the one night he'd encountered a drunk Ferid lounging about in the hall. "Alcohol does reduce their inhibitions, but that is exactly why it's more dangerous to encounter a vampire while they are intoxicated. All the social niceties fall away, and you're left looking down the throat of a dragon, one who no longer cares for your impression of them." Mika stated bitterly.

The mood of the table had changed to suit, which made Mika suddenly feel a bit guilty, but he figured it was better they knew than assumed. "They lose all sight of their fragile morality, too. Right and wrong mean nothing to a vampire when they aren't in the proper frame of mind." Mika said it before he knew what he was implying, but upon the wary looks and shy stares, figured transparency was no less harmful than lying at that point. "Myself included." He added hastily. "Which is why I go far out of my way to avoid intoxicating substances, some of which you could eat or drink and be unaffected by, I might add."

"Like what?" Kamizuki snapped. He hadn't meant to, and quickly softened his tone. "It might be useful to know, so that we don't accidentally give you or expose you to any."

"Feverfew, a common medicinal plant, is highly intoxicating to vampires. They use it a lot to get high, but the rush is apparently short lived and not super volatile – other human drugs, however, are." Mika explained. "There's a medication humans use for pain – naproxen – that has an intoxicant effect on us. It's effects are similar to opium, from what I've seen."

"As in, makes them sleepy, or makes them see things that aren't there?" Shinoa asked.

"The latter. It's not super pretty, but thankfully not too many vampires are interested in taking themselves out of touch with reality. Those that are tend not to live long in this day and age."

"Damn right." Kamizuki huffed with a mildy reassuring half-smirk.

"Anything else we should know?" Shinoa impressed.

"There's a few other herbs that I think can be dangerous, but none of them are native here." Mika replied. "I do, however, know that if a vampire feeds on an intoxicated human, they'll be affected by whatever is in them. Unfortunately, that makes poisoning them impractical, because the things that poison _us_ also poison you, and the volume you would have to consume would mean you'd be dead before a vampire ever bit you."

"I figured as much." Shinoa sighed disappointedly. "Even for something like naproxen?"

"To get enough in your body to fully intoxicate a vampire, you would have to swallow three to five times the normal dose, unless for some reason the vampire wanted to eat your liver, which is where most of that medication will end up."

"Would a vampire eat a human liver?" Yoichi asked worriedly, but the question brought a small chuckle from Yuu, who apparently thought the idea as ridiculous as it sounded. "Not generally," Mika explained calmly, relenting with a crooked half smile. His expression became sober though once he reflected upon some information he'd gleaned from old books he'd read as a human boy. "If they are starved enough, though, I suppose they could try. The liver is full of distasteful toxins, but it also has a lot of necessary nutrients in it. If for some reason a vampire was sick enough or starved enough to be unable to absorb those nutrients through blood alone, they would resort to eating the flesh and organs." Backtracking once he seen the remarkably alarmed expressions of his human housemates, he quickly added, "But that's thankfully a very, very rare occurrence, for vampires aren't anything if not resourceful. They'll feed on one another before they resort to eating meat."

"tch, rather be cannibals than have to chew their food, huh?" Shinoa let out a sarcastic laugh. "If that's not the picture of vampire morality." She glanced over to Mika quickly, as if to assess whether she'd offended him.

"I agree with that, honestly." Mika assured, his eyes once more losing directive focus as he seemed to stare intently at some invisible image, lost in the storming seas of his past while he dwelled, true to his nature, far too much on things.

"Come on, Mika!" Yuu said after a moment, breaking the dreary enchantment his friend seemed awfully prone to falling into today. "Let's go outside for some air. I think a little sea breeze is just what you need!"

"But..." Mika objected, looking to the blinding brightness visible even through the dirty window. "It's so bright outside." He whined.

"There's the Mika I know!" Yuu chortled, breaking the sour mood. "Never one to like the outdoors. Such a princess."

"Hey," Mika warned.

"What, it's true." Yuu smirked triumphantly, egging him on. As soon as Mika stood, Yuu leapt out the door, leaving it open as an invitation for Mika to chase him.

The vampire merely sighed. Yuu was Yuu, even in the darkest of times. In a way, the thought was concerning, for Yuu had always been a wrecking ball of a boy, stubborn like steel and with a resolve to match; once he went, there was no stopping him. But the thought also brought to the vampire a sense of familiarity, and more importantly, a sense of hope. Hope and reassurance, that no matter what happened between them, no matter what happened for any of them, Yuu would surely survive.

He hoped Yuu would survive.


End file.
